Mute Me

Harry wandered back stage as the concert came to an end expecting to see the girls backstage, like most VIP guests they all got to be backstage after the concert but when he got back there the girls weren’t there. Lou was though and she was nursing a bruised cheek and she still looked semi pissed off about something. Liam frowned as he entered the backstage as well being upset that the girls he’d seen from stage weren’t back there.

“Lou?” Zayn questioned as he walked into the back spotting the hair dresser with ice to her face. “What the hell happened?” Lou looked up from her ice pack slowly moving it away from her face and shrugged

“This girl was ragging on Kitten and Princess, there was a fight,” She paused as she watched Harry , Niall, and Liam all look around like lost puppies “The girls are back in their bus, It’s the only grey one in the fleet of buses. Not hard to spot,” the words were barely out of her mouth before the three boys were racing out of the dressing room and back towards the busses

“Mind if we…go as well?” Louis questioned and Lou let out a laugh before waving them off telling them to go find their girls. Zayn shook his head and following the other boys a little eager to see these girls face to face again.

Harry and Niall had gotten to the bus first and eagerly knocked and continued to knock. It took what seemed like forever before the bus door opened and a kind of pissed off Princes stood there as if looking for a fight. When she realized it was just the boys on the other side she relaxed a bit smiling slightly at Niall before signing to Harry.

“She wants to know what we’re doing here,” Harry explained to his bandmates and he was surprised when Louis was the one to speak up.

“We came to check on you two, we heard there was a fight,” He frowned because there wasn’t a scratch on Princess but he was more curious to see the damage if there was any to Kitten. He wouldn’t be satisfied until he was sure they were both ok. A small smile lit up her face that these people seemed to care as if it was a new concept to her.

She looked towards Harry and her hands began to move in a motion none of the other boys understood but their youngest was watching with rapt attention to the girls every motion. He waited until she’d finished. He smiled and signed something back to her before turning back to his boyfriends to explain what had just gone on.

“She told me Kitten’s took most of the hits, I asked her if it was ok if we saw Kitten, make sure she was ok “He told his bandmates as Princess disappeared into the bus. It was so quiet and the boys weren’t used to the quiet slowly but surely Princess came back to the door her hand fisted in what looked like the material of a blanket and it looked like there was a person behind her who happened to be wrapped in that blanket. Princess let go of the blanket for a split moment to sign something to Harry causing the youngest to laugh.

“I take it Kitten was a little reluctant to come out?” Zayn asked in a teasing tone not needing Harry to translate what the younger girl had just signed because it was pretty obvious. Princess came down the bus steps so she was on the ground in front of the boys. She tugged the walking blanket behind her until her feet were on the ground as well. One of Kitten’s hands was in front of her face the other was holding onto the blanket that she kept trying to drag up over her face but Princess hold on the blanket wasn’t allowing it.

“The taller ones Princess, the one hiding behind the blanket is Kitten,” Louis explained to Liam who was staring at the girls confused to who was who. Though now that he was up close he was even more stunned by their beauty than before and one girl was covering her face! He was completely head over heels for girls he’d never even met.

“Kitten,” Harry’s voice was soft as he looked at Princess for permission before gently setting his hand on her wrist in an urge to get her to move her hand away from her face. She shook her head and tried to hide her face behind Princess. The taller girl shook her head and move so she couldn’t hide behind her.

“We just want to see that you’re ok sweetie,” Niall tried and he heard the quietest whimper before her hand slowly fell into Harry’s grasp. She still kept her head down her hair falling in front of any damage done. “Please,” He frowned. They all watched as Princess bent down and pressed a kiss to Kitten’s head as if it was some kind of silent communication that everything was ok. After a few tense moments past Kitten lifted her head up and looked at the boys her eyes still watery and a little puffy from crying earlier.

“Oh no,” the eldest One Direction member stepped forward feeling a fire build in the pit of his stomach. The poor girl had a raging black eye and her bottom lip was split and there was a little dried blood under her nose. There was a large scratch across her cheek as if the fan had tried to claw her face off. It was really horrifying to Louis to think one of their fans could be so cruel.

“Is it ok if I touch?” Harry asked quietly and Kitten nodded dumbly. The youngest one direction member released his gentle grip on her wrist before letting his hand trail up to her face first finding the scratch on her cheek. His fingers barely even touched the skin and she cringed under even the most ginger touches. Harry found himself wanting to pull her in for a kiss and just wanting to kiss it all away. He settled for setting his hand on her uninjured cheek and rubbing the skin softly. He watched as she leaned into it a guarded look in her eyes.

“What was the fight even about?” Liam asked frowning. Princess looked at Harry being a little preoccupied with Kitten. She held up a finger and ran inside the bus coming back with a white bored scribbling what had happened across it before handing it to Liam and smiling proud of her self that she had that.

“Seriously? That’s insane, some people are so stupid,” Zayn shook his head as he read over Liam’s shoulder as to what the fight had been about. He was furious with a fan for even trying to start that. They’d have to keep the girls closer to the stage. Princess nodded before taking the white board back and wiping it clean before writing something else on it.

“So what are all your names? We’ve only officially met Harry and Niall,” The board said. Liam practically face palmed himself. He’d completely forgot to introduce who he was and who the other boys were.

“I’m Liam, that’s Zayn and the one over there by Harry is Louis,” a smile graced Princess’ face as she took the board back again and quickly wrote something else handing it back to Liam and Zayn.

“It’s nice to meet you” It read and Liam couldn’t help but smile at the girl ignoring Harry and Louis who seemed completely enamored with the bruised girl and a little too do much else then stare at the girl.

“Would you two like to join us for dinner? We’ve got more than enough food, please?” Niall looked at Princess who looked a little unsure; she reached over and tapped Kitten who slowly pulled her head out of Harry’s ghost like grip. She looked at her moving her hands only once. The boys felt a little like they were intruding on a very personal moment as they watched the girls communicate. A small nod from Kitten gave them the answer they wanted, Princess turned back to them all smiles as she scribbled “yes” On the board. It was obvious who was the more outgoing of the two girls.

“We usually eat backstage, come on I’ll lead the way,” Zayn and Niall spoke in sync both reaching for Princess’ hand a little quickly. Princess didn’t look startled or concerned by it though she simply held one hand out for either boy to take a hand. Gladly both boys were satisfied with that solution. Liam simply rolled his eyes as they began to lead the girl towards the backstage area.

“You guys coming?” He questioned laughing slightly as Louis and Harry both jumped slightly. Kitten shed her blanket and set it right inside the door of the bus before shutting and locking the bus. She looked at Louis shyly and then at Harry. Both Louis and Harry looked so sweet she took Harry’s hand and then reached for Louis as well pulling him in closer to her not wanting him so far away.

“Yeah,” Harry blushed looking down between their hands smiling like an idiot because yeah he held hands with the boys all the time but this was different it was like nothing he’d ever felt before this girl was so much more to him and she’d just met him. He didn’t even know his heart could feel this way it was an overwhelming feeling to say the least.
~~

Getting seated once they were in the backstage area they had found Lou and she agreed to eat dinner with them as well so that Harry didn’t have to translate for a little while. Which was nice because Harry was still practically tied to Kitten’s hand even as they sat down, Louis had let go of her hand to get some food and he’d come back with two plates. Enough for her, Harry, and himself to share so none of them actually had to get up. Princess was getting a similar treatment only Liam had stolen her hand as soon as Zayn had let go .Liam had come back with two plates at first and then gone back to get the other two plates of food for the four of them to share.

“I hope you like mashed potatoes and chicken, this stuff is so good,” Niall gushed as he picked up a fork. Princess let out a laugh detaching her hand from Niall’s grip so that she could eat causing the blonde to poke out his bottom lip because that wasn’t what he wanted but he supposed she couldn’t exactly eat if he had ahold of her hand and Liam had a hold of the other one.

“We are gonna make Harry teach us Sign language so you can talk to us,” Liam blurted as he watched Princess eat quietly. It was so strange not to have her blabbering away about something or another. Dinner was never quiet for them but they had two girls who didn’t talk and that made things a little different not difficult…just different. Princess smiled but it was more of a sad smile. She opened her mouth and then closed it again shaking her head. She pulled her hand from Liam and looked at Lou as she signed something.

“She says you guys don’t have to do that, Sign language is a lot of work to learn. I’m not telling what the last part was because it wasn’t true and she knows it,” Lou gave Princess a hard look before taking a bite of her own food and shaking her head. Princess stuck her tongue out before looking back to Niall and Liam. They were watching her trying to study every movement.

“Maybe you could teach us, I mean I know you can’t talk but maybe we’d learn faster from you! Lou or Haz can translate if need be but I really want to be able to understand you without another person in the room,” Niall smiled as he shoveled his food into his throat. A small pink tint covered Princess cheeks, it was so sweet that he wanted to get to know her and know sign language just so he could actually have a conversation with out someone else translating.

‘Sounds like a deal,’ Liam and Zayn both watched her hands as intently and Niall had even put down his fork. She signed it again in a slower motion trying not to laugh at how hard they were focused on her hands It took few minutes but Niall was the first one to understand what she was saying.

“She said yes!” Liam smiled and high fived his younger blonde lover. “We can like set aside a time each day, An hour or so block where you and Kitten can come in and just teach us boys for a little while,” Niall suggested and Princess nodded looking down the table to Kitten and the others. Kitten was talking animatedly with Harry who was translating everything she said to Louis. Seemed like she was telling a story “what are they talking about?” he looked to Lou and then to Princess who had a fond smile on her face.

“When Kitten and Princess went on their first date and how much of a disaster it was but how amazing it turned out,” Lou smiled at the memory. Princess tugged on Liam’s shirt drawing his attention away from the couple at the end of the table. She signed something and Liam looked at Lou who had turned her attention back to Princess. “She asked if you have any questions for her, like to get to know her,”

“Oh! Yes!” Zayn tapped his chin trying to think of a good question to ask, But before he could even bother to come up with something Niall blurted out what they all really wanted to know.

“Why don’t you guys talk?” The question stopped Kitten mid story to Harry and Louis. She turned around and looked at Niall like he’d burned her or was going to harm Princess. She got up from her spot between Louis and Harry and moved so she was standing directly behind Princess an over protectiveness evident in the way she held her self over the younger girl. Princess looked at her hands then at Niall sadly.

“Niall,” Harry hissed angrily. “You can’t just ask that!” He wanted to stand up and protect kitten as well but she was giving off these ‘don’t touch me or I’ll kill you’ vibes and he didn’t really want to mess with that right now. Lou looked a little miffed but she wasn’t going to say anything. She simply looked to the girls trying to be as reassuring as she could from across the table.

‘No it’s ok’ Princess signed and Kitten tensed behind her as Lou spoke the words that Princess signed. ‘He has a right to ask, everyone does at some point’ she sighed as she moved her hands in a slower manner.

‘Princess,’ Kitten warned keeping her hands in tight motions before setting her hands back down on her lovers shoulders feeling severely over protective of the younger girl. Princess simply lifted a hand and set it on her lover’s trying to let her know that she really was ok with Niall asking them. The elder lover wasn’t satisfied though and she absolutely wasn’t pleased by the question. They didn’t share with people why they didn’t talk.

‘We were bullied a lot in school, to the point it was almost too much to handle and nothing we ever said made it better’ Princess paused teas building up in her eyes. ‘After a beating that put me in the hospital I realized things were better when I didn’t talk, so I just stopped. There was no point in talking when all it did was hurt me’ she wiped the tears off her face before continuing. ‘that’s why I stopped talking, Kitten followed soon after but Kitten’s story is different and that’s for her to share, when she’s ready’ she sniffled and Liam handed her a tissue to wipe her nose with.

‘You are leaving out the part where they nearly killed you because you told me you loved me,” Kitten signed angrily. ‘The beating that put her in the hospital was an attempted murder because we were together!’ She shook her head. ‘I’ll never let someone hurt her like that again, losing her was enough to scare me for life, and when she stopped talking I didn’t see a point in doing it anymore, it hurt too much to know words that left my lips caused her more grief, I wouldn’t do it anymore’ Kitten’s chest was heaving slightly as she signed her story leaving out a few bits of information but none that were really needed.

“No matter what they did, no matter how much they begged and pleaded, it was awful,” Lou sighed. “I completely understood when they stopped talking, I immediately began to teach my self sign language so we could all talk and not have to worry about others. They haven’t actually used their voice in 6 years,” she added.

“I promise, none of us are going to hurt either of you,” Niall frowned feeling badly for bringing up something that was obviously such a pain for both girls. Princess shook slightly tears still rolling down her cheeks. Kitten chewed on her bottom lip shaking her head unable to really real her self back in. She pulled Princess up.

‘We need to get going’ Kitten took Princess hand, Liam jumped up and stepped in front of the girls. ‘Look, Please,” She let go of Princess hand looking at Harry desperately. ‘We’ll see you guys tomorrow, I need to take her back to the bus,’ She explained. Harry nodded and reached forward grabbing Liam’s arm and shaking his head at the other boys.

“We’ll see you tomorrow for our first lesson yeah?” Kitten smiled sadly at Harry before nodding and pulling Princess off with her.